This brewer recently won the best beer in Portland award. It isn't a pub though...it is literally the brewery with a small portion of the warehouse made into a tasting room. Limited hours too. A colleague/friend of mine and I went down yesterday after work. Interesting concept....you sit inside the brewery itself amongst all the barrels, stainless steel brew machines, sinks, hoses, wooden barrels etc. and on one wall is a small bar with a few taps and they serve 12oz glasses or a tray of four 8oz taster glasses. Very relaxed and only about 20 or so people there. There is only one table though so most people sit at the wooden beer barrels. They bottle the beer in 750ml wine style bottles, label it and sell it in stores. Once inside I definitely recognized their label but have never had it before.

In a town that likes its hops this was a refreshing change. Their 'Urban Farmhouse Ale' is what won the award and it was just perfect for a hot and sunny day, which it was yesterday. Crisp, light and very flavorful. My 12oz went down very quick. We also had a couple taster trays and their ESB was also very nice.

I've taken a real shine to a fine beer from Edinburgh by Innis & Gunn... can't say i'm particularly knowledgeable about this stuff, but a wee step into the unknown world of decent beers led me to this one... lovely!

Got a chance today to visit the new Sierra Nevada Taproom. It is a taproom only with seating/standing for about 45 people and so it's not that big. It's like a winery with small pourings, only 4 ounce tasters and a 64 ounce growler to go. And you can also buy some of their other beers in the refrigerated section. They had about 20 of their beers on tap and I missed out on the Torpedo Cask Conditioned IPA and so I only had the Orvil Belgian Double and a Nitro Stout.

It seems to be very yuppy. They have an automated growler filler that seems a bit gimmicky to me. Well, they put the growler in this machine and the platform rises up to about 15 inches to a stainless tube where it injects it for about 5 seconds with carbon dioxide ( to remove the oxygen in the growler ) and the same tube fills it w/ your desired beer. My friends thought it was so cool, I on the other hand thought it overkill. It's okay, if your into the yuppie crowd, but it was a good opportunity to try some of their other beers you won't get outside Chico, CA.

spacemanrich wrote:Got a chance today to visit the new Sierra Nevada Taproom.

It seems to be very yuppy.

I'm a little lost on why you thought it was so yuppy. Lame crowd? Was it expensive? I can't really see Sierra Nevada charging ludicrous prices. Their beers are always affordable, especially in the craft beer world, where it's easy to drop $12+ on a bomber. I dig the Celebration Ale they put out in Nov./Dec. and I had their black IPA recently ... damn, can't remember the name, but it was delicious, too.

Three Floyds has a very metal vibe to it. It's hands down my favorite brewery, but sometimes when I go there the music makes me want to claw my eyes out. Cookie Monster vocals and shit. I'm not into it. Then again, the beer and food are so fucking good, it's worth it.

Interesting that you mention metal and breweries. There are two metal themed breweries within a mile of each other in central Denver, Trve and Black Sky. Trve actually brewed a beer in honor of Sleep's Dopesmoker last year. The Craft Beer Conference is in town right now and there are too many beer events to wrap your head around. I am likely headed to Crooked Stave's What The Funk Festival tonight.

Alex, looks like you live in the Denver area ? Been to the GABF in the fall ? Been there twice and it is overwhelming (to say the least). One of my favourite brewpubs are Walnut Brewery in Boulder and Wynkoop in LoDo. I was there during the GABF when they were still building the Rockies stadium and not too far away Breckenridge Brewing Co.

A better choice of words is " hipster " than yuppie, perhaps. One of my fave beers is Celebrator ( i wish they put that out on a continual basis ) and Torpedo. Drink two pints of that and you'll be sunk. Sort of a place to be " see and be seen " that's all, a bit pretentious ( imho ). Didn't say I wouldn't go back there again ... Trying to go to the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico this summer ( home of Aaron Rodgers ).

Ticked off a few more off this list a few weeks ago.http://www.beeradvocate.com/lists/top/
The Alchemist Heady Topper
Three Floyds Dark Lord
The Bruery Chocolate Rain
yet another Westvleteren Xll
I think I am up to 52.
I wish I could remember all the beers I had at the Leuven Belgian beer festival. After about the 5th beer I have no idea. There were several more after that. Oof!

I love Heady Topper.
Very close but better than Pliny The Elder.
My brother feels the exact opposite.
The Bruery and Dark Lord were very intense.
Westvleteren is great but I think so sought after that adds to the allure.
Rochefort 10 comes pretty damn close.

Bruery is in Michigan now. Yes. They have this whole series of uber rare beers though that someone who came up north a few weeks ago has all of them. Multiples. He brought about six of them. All crazy.
St Bernadus a lot people say is the closest to WV Xll. I totally disagree having spent an entire afternoon at Westvleteren drinking mostly the Xll. I think Rochefort 10 is closer.
I have 3 bottles of the Westvleteren Xll here. Cellaring. Waiting for that special occasion.

A friend just got back from Belgium and we shared a Westvleteren 12. It was excellent, as I expected, but I'm not certain that it is better than the Rochefort 10 or even the St. Bernardus 12. Wish we had thought ahead and done a comparison, but it was a last minute thing.

Alulu beer receipt – This records a purchase of "best" beer from a brewer, c. 2050 BC from the Sumerian city of Umma in ancient Iraq.[1]
Beer, or more specifically, ale, is one of the oldest beverages humans have produced, dating back to at least the fifth millennium BC and recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. As almost any cereal containing certain sugars can undergo spontaneous fermentation due to wildyeasts in the air, it is possible that beer-like beverages were independently developed throughout the world soon after a tribe or culture had domesticated cereal. Chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that beer was produced about 7,000 years ago in what is today Iran, and is one of the first-known biological engineering tasks to utilize the process of fermentation. In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal bowl. A 3900-year-old Sumerian poem honouring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread.

The invention of bread and/or beer has been argued to be responsible for humanity's ability to develop technology and build civilization.[2][3][4] The earliest chemically confirmed barley beer to date was discovered at Godin Tepe in the central Zagros Mountains of Iran, where fragments of a jug, at least 5,000 years old was found to be coated with beerstone, a by-product of the brewing process.[5]

Beer may have been known in Neolithic Europe as far back as 5,000 years ago,[6] and was mainly brewed on a domestic scale.[7]

Ale produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century AD beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, and domestic manufacture ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century.[8] The development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process, and greater knowledge of the results.

Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional
breweries.[9] More than 133 billion liters (35 billion gallons) are sold per year—producing total global revenues of $294.5 billion (£147.7 billion) in 2006.

I havent tried the 10 yet but a crate is soon to be ordered. cracking price if you compare it to 6 quid a bottle in that head of steam pub in Leeds (as nice as the pub is the price near made me spit the bier into the glass) http://www.belgianbeerfactory.com/crate ... t-8-crate/

Having a naughty IPA-sodden Tuesday night at home, because although my wife is in hospital, her latest CT scan was pronounced as "stable" and she'll hopefully be home soon So far I've had some:

Crafty Dan's "13 Guns", a pseudo-craft IPA from Thwaites (England). Pretty tasty for the price, which is £4 for a 330 ml four-pack in Tesco. It's a glugging beer, really.

Sierra Nevada "Torpedo" - no introduction necessary here . This is now available in a few Scotland supermarkets, which is wonderful; the better bottleshops stock the 1-pint tins, which makes me a very happy panda

Firestone Walker "Double IPA" - My word, this is beyond good. They've got the malt base perfectly tuned to the wonderfully excessive hop content. Marmaladey, citrus, piney gorgeousness in a glass. I could drink this shit all day, if it weren't 9% and £4+ a bottle...

Been enjoying a few US IPAs these last two weeks - Caldera IPA (OR), Hale's Supergoose IPA (WA), Half Moon Bay Mavericks Tunnel Vision (CA), Modern Times Blazing World (CA, more of an amber ale but hopped to fuck), basically anything new I can find in Edinburgh bottle-shops The only disappointing beer was Westbrook IPA (SC), which had a wonderful hop flavour and aroma but an appalling malt base - frankly, it tasted of unfermented wort. Should've got out my hydrometer and checked its gravity

spzretent wrote:Those Firestone Walker beers are amazing.
You get them in Scotland but we dont get them in Detroit. Weird.

Only in the specialist bottle-shops, and rarely at that; still better than nothing! What a baffling distribution model...

This is where BrewDog deserve plaudits, I feel. Some of their beers are great but many are rank, and I'm sick to death of their pseudo-revolutionary attention-seeking "punk" advertising ethic. Nevertheless, I think they've really turned the UK on to the concept of (non-traditional cask-conditioned) craft beer, and brought to life a market for (often much better!) UK craft beer, expensive US imports and (in pubs) keg beer that isn't macro-lager pish. OK, the likes of Thornbridge were already in operation when BrewDog started, but they really seemed to galvanise things.

This is beer week (SFBEERWEEK) and it seems a bit commercialized. Sierra Nevada Taproom - Berkeley (1st and only taproom outside of Chico, CA) is having a blind IPA tasting for like $50 bucks or so ? Couple of brewpubs and restaurants pairing beer with food for exorbitant prices. Here in America, the ' in trend ' now is SOUR BEERS. This started about 1-2 years ago and gaining steam with many more breweries making this - can't stand the style myself.

Racer X Double IPA (Bear Republic) is tasty if you can get your hands on it. Don't bother with Pliny the Elder - a cult favorite and over-rated in my opinion. Got to a chance to try the collaboration between Stone Brewing Co. (San Diego) and Sierra Nevada (Chico) called NxS IPA. Sadly disappointed. It was 'okay', but considering these two hop centric breweries I was expecting a hop bomb, but it was more subtle and restrained, as well it stated "barrel aged" and didn't get that in the aroma nor flavor.

I'm a National Beer Judge - BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) and I'm on the beer panel for a national beer magazine and so I get beers shipped to me nationally across the country (mostly West Coast) and so I get to try a lot of new beers that I usually can't via distribution, etc. I've gotten like (5) beers or so from New Holland Brewing Co. out of Holland, MI and all their beers are fantastic ! The Mad Hatter IPA or Double IPA is very tasty.

Last year I heard that Stone Brewing Co. out of San Diego wants to open a brewery in Berlin, Germany and I haven't heard anything since. I don't know if the Germans will go for hoppy beers like that ? I'm on the mailing list for West Brewing Co. out of Glasgow, Scotland and they are ramping up production with a new brewery opening soon.

MC - Half Moon Bay Brewing is only about 30 minutes from where I live and I'm surpised that you got one of their beers. They are only a small brewpub with a 14 bbl system and I didn't think they could produce that much for that kind of distribution. I know the brewer too (James) , decent bloke. I think their beers are good, but I haven't tried that beer yet.

A great Good Friday session at Tilt in Bham with a Beavertown Town tap takeover and meet the brewer which is Logan Plant. His dad turned up too. Followed that up yesterday with an epic 3 man bottle tasting session.

We sell Roosters beer where I work. It's really good stuff and recently they introduced a canning machine at vast expense which they are adamant makes their beer taste better. I asked one of the Roosters boys one time if they ever have any opposition from people to beer being packaged in cans, as I often find people are somewhat prejudice, claiming it 'has to be in a bottle'. The Roosters chap said 'Of course, but I always ask them a question, which is simply 'what is the best way to enjoy beer?' and the answer is always the same: 'from draught'. So then I ask them 'what do you think draught beer is stored in?' and the answer is simply 'a giant can'. End of argument.

Remember that light is one of beer's great enemies. Cans eliminate that.

Results of this mega double IPA tasting were a surprise to all of us who participated.
Hopslam was the clear winner. Pliny The Elder and Heady Topper, both incredibly difficult to get even in the states they are brewed in(California and Vermont), are much different. Pliny The Elder is all pine needles and well balanced while Heady Topper is drier and more tart. Hoplsam always rates highly and is not easy to find in Michigan where it is brewed.
Hopslam just stood out because it seemed to have a deeper and more complex taste and the honey on top sealed the deal.
These are three of the top IPAs voted on every year in the US with Pliny & Heady Topper usually 1&2.

spzretent wrote:
These are three of the top IPAs voted on every year in the US with Pliny & Heady Topper usually 1&2.

Have you ever had Melvin's 2x4? Really tasty. I will be heading down to the Rockies home opener in a couple of hours and will be enjoying one of these before heading in. I was lucky enough to have the Melvin 4x8 in Boulder a month or so ago. I do drink a ton of Heady Topper every time I visit my brother in Vermont.

I looked at this years top Imperial IPA list and so many are from super small breweries. I am fortunate to have quite a few Plinys, Heady Toppers and Hopslams in the fridge right now. That may never happen again.
Pliny and Heady are top 10. Hopslam is like #35. Which is insane.

167891, there are quite a few of Bell's beer is now available in the UK. Cans and bottles. Currently drinking a can of Oberon and it is a cracking drink. I'm really enjoying it. Also seeing lots from Rouge, Firestone Walker, 18thStreet, new Founders, new Bruery, new Sierra Nevada.

Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter has just made it to my neck of the woods. Very tasty indeed, and intriguing from a brewing POV as well. Earlier on, had a pint of Omnipollo Mosaic IPA (from Stockholm). Gorgeous aroma and flavour, albeit with that tiny hint of onion the likes of Summit, Mosaic, Simcoe et al. can bring. Right now, drinking one of my homebrews, an orange stout. Not a contender for Best Beer In The World, but certainly tasty

I was just in a really huge beverage superstore called Total Wine.
I asked the clerk if they had anything from a brewery called 21st Ammendment. They have a watermelon wheat beer, Hell Or High Watermelon, that is superb. Especially given the fact the temps were well over 100F in Phoenix.
His response was so true. He said "there are way too many breweries now. Many of them very good but there is such a glut on the market." I have been waiting for this comment for ages.
I tried about 7 different beers from Alpine, Deschutes, Ballast Point, Ska, Odell's, and Boulevard. The one that really disappointed was the Anchor Steam/Chris Robinson Brotherhood collaboration called Brotherhood Steam. That one sucked. Nothing remotely remarkable going on there at all.
Maybe I am spoiled by always having several Bell's Two Hearted IPA's in the fridge as my go to beer.

Yep, I tried the 4hop, 6hop and I think you mean 8hop instead of 7 ? I'm a beer judge panel reviewer for a major beer magazine. Beers get shipped to a mate in Alameda, I live in Oakland. True beer judge tasting and review. I don't know the name of the brewery, city or state. I'm just given the style of beer i.e. - pale ale, porter, etc. It's like a free beer of the month club Not big into sour beers, but tried one from Council Brewing Co. in San Diego recently that was damm good. They called it a ' tart saison '.

Not going to mention 21st.Amendment, owner is an arsehole. Gotten some of their beers for review and they are shite. Watermelon in beer, really ?!

Sierra Nevada made a limited offering called, " Beer Camp Tropical IPA " - no fruit flavorings at all, but their beer is definitely tropical with mangoes and passionfruit, I think from the Citra hops ? Didn't care for the HopHunter - just an infusion of hop oil added after fermentation instead of putting it into the wort for boil.

spacemanrich wrote:
Not going to mention 21st.Amendment, owner is an arsehole. Gotten some of their beers for review and they are shite. Watermelon in beer, really ?!
.

Yes. Watermelon wheat beer. Really. Delicious on a 100f desert day.
No idea who the owner is but not only is that beer perfect on a hot day but the artwork is fantastic too.
For someome who supposedly is a beer reviewer try sticking to the beers and not the personalities. Seems this beer was prejudged out of the gate.

spacemanrich wrote:Didn't care for the HopHunter - just an infusion of hop oil added after fermentation instead of putting it into the wort for boil.

Fair enough if you didn't like it, but it's a little more interesting than you've described - the hop oil is distilled from wet hops, and I definitely noticed an intensely fresh flavour and aroma I haven't encountered in other beers. No point in putting that in the boil and losing all those volatile oils.

Another vote here for watermelon wheat beer - I've tasted examples from two different breweries here and they were both gorgeous. Hugely refreshing, and the subtle watermelon flavour went very well with the usual wheat beer style.

Have any of you in the USA tried a brewery called Hillfarmstead? I think possibly out of Vermont. Well they have a brewer using their brewery to brew his own beers. He's a bit of a cuckoo brewer but is based there. He used to brew for Siren Craft over here and he's one of the best current Brewers there is. If you do ever get the opportunity to try his or Hillfarmstead beers do so. They're bound to be amazing.

mc wrote:Earlier on, had a pint of Omnipollo Mosaic IPA (from Stockholm). Gorgeous aroma and flavour, albeit with that tiny hint of onion the likes of Summit, Mosaic, Simcoe et al. can bring.

Where are you based, mc? Omnipollo do a beer using maple candied almonds which sounds so wrong but equally intriguing. I've seen it in bottles. And the watermelon wheat beer.... Well I've not tried any but tried one with cucumber and mint. There are occasions when beers like that work and being in a desert at 100% surely is one of them.

I've been really taken with these really hoppy ales for a while now and recently found Beavertown based London who did a Rye IPA which was really lovely. Guinness do a similar brew. Einstok Icelandic Toasted Porter was also a nice find. I've been brewing homebrew for a while and this afternoon plan to bottle 40 pints of Nelson's Revenge (Woodefordes). This has come out really well in the past. Pretty much as good as a pint from a pub. It's not doing my liver any favours though

Cloudwater (Eng) - DIPA v12 (first time I've found one of their ever-evolving DIPAs, and my goodness it was worth the wait. Like drinking tropical punch, with that tiny hint of oniony hoppiness that's so moreish...)

Fallen (Sco) - Blackhouse Smoked Porter (a wonderful (if at 5%, a lower ABV than I'd like) example of the style, and also a good palate cleanser between IPAs)

Firestone Walker (CA) - Luponic Distortion No. 004 (beautiful fresh and clean pine flavours and aromas, but even after a smoked porter, it tasted a bit pallid compared to the Cloudwater. Still, it's not really fair to compare a 5.9% beer to a 9% beer when it comes to overall flavour and mouthfeel...)

Also, I started off with an ever reliable Aecht Shenklera Lagerbier, which carries a wonderful hint of the sausage smokiness that makes their Marzen etc so utterly wonderful.

rapideye wrote:Cloudwater (Eng) - DIPA v12 (first time I've found one of their ever-evolving DIPAs, and my goodness it was worth the wait. Like drinking tropical punch, with that tiny hint of oniony hoppiness that's so moreish...)

...Cloudwater, wow!...best brewery out there at the moment!

If you have had the joy of tasting the Hawkshead Tonka then this dark delicious beauty will blow your pants off in all the best ways.
Im thinking this may be the tastiest stout/porter I have had to date.

We're all off to Florida on Thursday to be dragged around the parks by our Kids for two weeks. Obviously, I'll need Rapid-time to relax so looking forward to stocking up on your US beers. Going to take note of some of the suggestions here as a start. Any further suggestions I should look out for?

You now have three breweries from California now brewing beer in North Carolina : Sierra Nevada, Laganitas and Stone Brewing Companies. Their beers should be readily availble throughout the Eastern Seaboard.

Try Torpedo (double IPA) from Sierra Nevada. A couple of those will sink you ...

All 3 California breweries mentioned above are macro craft breweries ie: Huge!
Regarding Florida stick with Cigar City. I have never had any Funky Buddah but it looks like a small Florida brewery so I am sure pretty good.

Nice one Modlab. I haven't seen that list before. My friend sent this to me several days ago. Just have to take these " best of " lists as a grain of salt. I'm a National Beer Judge and do 7-8 beer judgings a year and I often get asked " what is the best beer ? " and I tell them the beer that is the best is the one you like. I, agree to some of the beers on this list, but not all of them :

Another one of the issues with these lists is there is little or no distribution outside of the local area for the smaller breweries.
That is what makes traveling when a fan of beer more fun.
I haven't had most of these beers.
The only way I am going to see anything by Tree House, Surly etc is in the Sierra Nevada collaboration pack that just came out. I was in a shop today that broke a few of those up so I get to taste Surly's Ginger lager and Treehouse's East Coast/West Coast IPA.
Luckily I live in a state that has tons of great small breweries. And some old standbys like Bells, Dark Horse, Jolly Pumpkin etc.
The new ones: Transient and Ellison barely distribute cans into the Detroit area. Old Nation is the hot one now with their flagship hazey East Coast IPA M-43.
I would imagine the same situation is playing out all over the country.

I was lucky enough to have a friend in MA mail me four cans of Treehouse, all being the New England IPA style that they seem to have invented. They were excellent. Definitely deserving of the hype. There is a lot of debate over this style, but when its done well, it's great. There are a lot of breweries in Chicago doing them now and I'm totally on board.

This list reeks of mothballs with very few exceptions- Heady Topper, Pliny, Dark Lord, Bourbon County. Unless it is about the pioneers of craft beer in the US but still Sam Adams Boston Lager, Celis White anything by Widmer? Really?
It is very NorCal biased too.